SDSU volleyball will play in the NCAA tournament this Friday, Dec. 5, at 6:30 p.m. in Stanford, California.
Even after the heartbreaking loss in the Summit League Championship game, SDSU’s volleyball team will be in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.
“To go through this type of experience two years in a row is a dream and we’re enjoying that. We’ve got to celebrate; we’ve got to acknowledge all the good things we did,” said head coach Dan Georgalas. “As far as I know, we are the first Summit League team to ever get consecutive at-large bids. The league has only produced two bids three times in its history, two of which have come from us the last two seasons. There hasn’t been a win from a Summit League in the NCAA Tournament in a very long time, so we’re very grateful to represent our conference with St. Thomas and now we want to go back into December volleyball and get a result that didn’t happen last year.”
SDSU is the number seven seed and is set to play the Arizona Wildcats in the first round of the tournament.
ARIZONA
Arizona volleyball will return to the big dance for the first time since 2018, when the team went 22-10 in the regular season and ended its season with a first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats are coming off a season where they went 16-12 overall and 10-8 in conference play, which put them at ninth in the Big 12.
Arizona is led in scoring by senior outside hitter Jordan Wilson, who has tallied 504 points on the season with 458 kills and 25 service aces. Wilson also has 251 digs on the season. These stats were good enough to get named to the first-team All-Big 12, which is the second year in a row she has received that honor.
Sophomore outside hitter Carlie Cisneros also had a big year, scoring 358 points on the season on 317 kills, 27 service aces and 26 blocks. Cisneros has the third most digs on the team with 269. Cisneros was also a recipient of Big 12 honors, but it was second-team All-Big 12 for the sophomore.
Sophomore setter Avery Scoggins was the third and final Wildcat to make an all-conference team. Scoggins, like the other Arizona sophomore, made second-team All-Big 12. Scoggins recorded 1097 assists, 291 digs and 110 points in her second year in collegiate action.
If the Jacks win on Friday, they will then face the winner of the match between the number two-seeded Stanford Cardinals and Utah Valley. The second-round match will be Saturday, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m.
